These cookies are a style of shortbread called meltaways; the addition of cornstarch to the buttery dough reduces gluten development and makes them melt-in-your-mouth tender. Claire Saffitz supplements the butter with cream cheese, which adds extra tang on top of the lime juice and zest, then coats the finished cookies in a lime glaze rather than the usual powdered sugar. Piping them spritz-style through a wide star tip creates more surface area for the glaze and gives the cookies an extra-fun look. Make sure to cool them completely before dipping them in the glaze so it doesn’t fully drip off.
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What you’ll need
Electric Mixer
$40 At Amazon
Piping Bag and Tips Set
$13 At Amazon
Rubber Spatula
$13 At Amazon
Wire Cooling Rack
$18 At Amazon
Microplane
$18 At Amazon
Recipe information
Yield
Makes about 20
Ingredients
Dough
1½
¼
¾
½
4
¾
2
2
2
Glaze and assembly
1
2
1
1
Special equipment
Preparation
Dough
Step 1
Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 350°. Whisk 1½ cups plus 1 Tbsp. (200 g) all-purpose flour, ¼ cup (32 g) cornstarch, and ¾ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt in a medium bowl to combine. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, 4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature, ¾ cup (83 g) powdered sugar, and 2 tsp. finely grated lime zest in a large bowl until combined. Increase speed to high and continue to beat, scraping down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula as needed, until smooth and slightly fluffy, about 1 minute. Add 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice and 2 tsp. vanilla extract and beat on medium speed just until combined. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients, and mix again to combine. Using a rubber spatula, fold dough several times, scraping bottom and sides, to make sure it’s thoroughly mixed.
Step 2
Fit a pastry bag or resealable plastic bag with a ½" star tip and transfer dough to bag, doing your best not to create any air pockets. Push dough to bottom of bag, pressing out any air, and twist bag to seal. Applying constant, even pressure, pipe dough onto a large parchment-lined baking sheet in tight squiggle shapes about 3" long, spacing about 1" apart (they won’t spread much). Chill, uncovered, until dough is firm, 15–20 minutes. (If it’s cold in your kitchen, the butter in the dough could firm up and make it difficult to pipe. If this happens, place the bag in a warm spot and let sit until softened.)
Step 3
Bake cookies until ridges are golden and sides are firm, 18–22 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet.
Glaze and assembly
Step 4
Whisk 1 cup (110 g) powdered sugar, 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice, and 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted, slightly cooled, in a medium bowl until smooth. Holding a cookie around its sides, dip upside down into glaze so everything except bottom is submerged. Wiggle gently for a few seconds to encourage ridged surfaces to pick up glaze. Lift up cookie and let any excess glaze drip back into bowl. Place glaze side up on a wire rack. Using a Microplane, grate some lime zest over cookie while glaze is still wet. Repeat with remaining cookies. Let sit until glaze is set, 25–30 minutes.
Do ahead: Cookies can be made 3 days ahead. Once glaze is set, stack in an airtight container, separating layers with sheets of parchment paper. Store at room temperature. Piped, unbaked cookies can be made 2 months ahead. Freeze solid on baking sheet, then transfer to a resealable plastic freezer bag. Bake as directed (no need to thaw first).
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Leave a Review
Reviews (5)
Back to TopI am a diehard Claire Saffitz fan but this is the first recipe of hers that I didn't love. I had the same trouble others mentioned with piping, but worked it out... More importantly I found the flavor a bit one-dimensional. Very adorable cookies, though!! I'm sure with some more tinkering I'll find a version of these guys that I really do enjoy.
Anonymous
Los Angeles, CA
6/18/2023
These are full of lime flavor and addictive! Delicious! I will make these again.
Anonymous
NYC
6/18/2023
A very tasty cookie but definitely hard to pipe. I followed the recipe and measured by weight, let my dough get soft, but couldn't pipe. I believe the recipe should call for a 1" tip, not a 1/2" tip. I got way more than 22 cookies and had to use a press. I will make them again because everyone loved them, or make a wetter dough that pipes better with a 1/2" tip.
Aimee C.
Waterloo, ON
12/31/2022
Same here - couldn’t pipe them. I used Saran Wrap and made a rectangular log, refrigerated the log, and then sliced them. Turned out similar to a shortbread cookie. Taste great.
HJ
Richmond, va
12/29/2022
I'm not sure why all these reviews are complaining about piping. It says in the recipe to warm the bag of dough on the heated oven, for a bit, to soften the dough !! Helloooo !! I did just that and it worked out fabulously. The flavor was awesome. The only thing was that I burnt the bottoms. They still tasted great, because the lime was so strong, it overrode the burnt taste. I think I will chill them after piping, and transfer them to a parchment lined sheet next time so they wont get so dark on the bottoms.
Anonymous
Venice CA
12/28/2022
Pretty much a disaster. The dough, when it was mixed, was so thick and stiff that I couldn't remotely have squeezed it out of a pastry bag. When I tried the cut-a-hole-in-a-Baggie technique, and squeezed -- after leaving the bag and the dough next to the stove, which was preheating, for 20 minutes -- the dough was still so thick and stiff that it burst through the bag and oozed (or would have oozed, had it been soft enough to ooze) all over the baking sheet. I thought about various work-arounds, and then I decided the hell with it. I had tasted the dough; it seemed to me to be flavorless, salty, and lacking in sweetness. I had thought that glazing it would make up for these shortcomings, but....certainly not worth all the trouble. I threw it away. Waste of all the ingredients and my time. I'd give zero stars if I could. And oh, FYI? I weighed all my ingredients, so this was not an issue of faulty measurements.
Maggie
NYC
12/25/2022
Two stars removed for technical modification. I was not able with to pipe so I switched to a cookie press which worked well enough. The flavor of lime is light and the cookie itself isn’t very sweet so it truly relies on on the icing. Overall, I enjoyed them.
Cait
Michigan
12/25/2022